Fifty Candles: Wildside Mystery Classics

"Suddenly, from across the hall, came a cry - sharp, uncanny, terrible. I ran out in the direction from which it had come and stood on the threshold of the Drew dining room. A table was set with gleaming silver and white linen, and in its center stood a cake, on which fifty absurd pink candles flickered bravely. There appeared to be no one in the room. On the other side of the table, a French window stood open to the fog, and I went around to investigate. I had taken perhaps a dozen steps when I stopped, appalled...."

A Man Lay Dead

Wealthy Sir Hubert Handesley's original and lively weekend house parties are deservedly famous. To amuse his guests, he has devised a new form of the fashionable Murder Game, in which a guest is secretly selected to commit a 'murder' in the dark, and everyone assembles to solve the crime. But when the lights go up this time, there is a real corpse....

The Fall of Japan

By midsummer 1945, Japan had long since lost the war in the Pacific. The people were not told the truth, and neither was the emperor. Japanese generals, admirals, and statesmen knew, but only a handful of leaders were willing to accept defeat. Most were bent on fighting the Allies until the last Japanese soldier died and the last city burned to the ground.

Friday the Rabbi Slept Late: A Rabbi Small Mystery, Book 1

Young and unassuming Rabbi David Small sorts through puzzling pieces of mysteries with logic straight from the Talmud. In Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, a shocking discovery on the temple grounds threatens to ruin both the diligent rabbi and the entire Jewish community at Barnard’s Crossing. Unaware that his congregation is grumbling about his rumpled appearance and absent-minded manner, Rabbi Small spends long hours poring over scholarly books.

Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs isn't just any young housemaid. Through her own natural intelligence - and the patronage of her benevolent employers - she works her way into college at Cambridge. After the War I and her service as a nurse, Maisie hangs out her shingle back at home: M. DOBBS, TRADE AND PERSONAL INVESTIGATIONS. But her very first assignment soon reveals a much deeper, darker web of secrets, which will force Maisie to revisit the horrors of the Great War and the love she left behind.

Charlie Chan Carries On

Inspector Duff works with the Scotland Yard. He is called in to investigate a mysterious murder that occurred at a famous local London hotel. He finds himself wishing for the assistance of his old friend, Charlie Chan, who now resides in Hawaii. The plot thickens when one of the suspects is found dead at a further stop on the trip.

The Heist: A Novel

FBI Special Agent Kate O’Hare is known for her fierce dedication and discipline on the job, chasing down the world’s most wanted criminals and putting them behind bars. Her boss thinks she is tenacious and ambitious; her friends think she is tough, stubborn, and maybe even a bit obsessed. And while Kate has made quite a name for herself for the past five years the only name she’s cared about is Nicolas Fox - an international crook she wants in more ways than one.

The Shadow - The Complete Radio Show Collection - Including more than 250 Shows

The Shadow was long believed to have debuted on radio as a program in its own right on September 26, 1937, on the Mutual Broadcasting System. But the character actually premiered in September 1931, on CBS, as part of the hourlong The Blue Coal Radio Revue (named for the show's sponsor), featuring Frank Readick - The Shadow announcer of Detective Stories - as The Shadow, and playing Sundays at 5:30 p.m. Eastern standard time.

A Man of Some Repute: A Very English Mystery, Book 1

Selchester Castle in 1953 sits quiet and near-empty, its corridors echoing with glories of the past. Or so it seems to intelligence officer Hugo Hawksworth, wounded on a secret mission and now reluctantly assuming an altogether less perilous role at Selchester.

The Big Sleep

Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But with Sternwood's two wild, devil-may-care daughters prowling LA's seedy backstreets, Marlowe's got his work cut out - and that's before he stumbles over the first corpse.

What’s Wrong with the World

In this important book, G.K. Chesterton offers a remarkably perceptive analysis of social and moral issues, even more relevant today than in his own time. With a light, humorous tone but a deadly serious philosophy, he comments on errors in education, on feminism vs. true womanhood, on the importance of the child, and other issues, using incisive arguments against the trendsetters’ assaults on the common man and the family.

Murder in E Minor

It wasn’t Nero Wolfe’s idea for Orrie Cather to kill himself, but the great detective gave his blessing to his longtime associate’s plan. Cather had killed three people, and it was only fair to pay the price. Though Wolfe reacted to Cather’s death with his characteristic calmness, prize assistant Archie Goodwin could see the rotund genius of West 35th Street was shaken to his well-fed core. Wolfe decided his sleuthing days were finished. The detective’s retirement lasts until the day Maria Radovich walks through his door.

Publisher's Summary

Known for his comic sense, Earl Derr Biggers was one of the foremost writers of mystery and detective stories in this country. To his friends he was known for his comic sense. Seven Keys to Baldpate was his first novel and became extremely popular. In it, a famous author visits a closed summer resort at Baldpate Mountain in the middle of winter. He is looking for peace and quiet so that he can write his next book.

However, before his first night is over, numerous unexpected visitors begin to fill the hotel, on strange and sometimes dangerous missions. The author finds that a fortune is at stake and that his visitors will do anything to possess it. Before the end of the week, there is gunfire, bribery, fights, and hidden truths are unmasked.

Seven Keys to Baldpate is an old-fashioned mysterious melodramatic farce. It was so popular that it was made into an extremely popular stage play by George M. Cohan and became the basis for no less than seven films.

I sorry this is my first review of a narrator and all I can say is after 3 chapters I gave up listening. It became impossible to continue listening to someone read with so little consideration for the author or the work. I suspect the book was read cold to the recording otherwise the narrator has some very odd ideas about adding commas and periods for the author.

The typical reading cadence of the first chapter is a noticle pause after EVERY 3 to 4 words. I know this can't be the literal truth but it is certainly my subective truth. It passes distracting within 5 minutes and becomes mroe than irriatating before the first chapter is completed.

By the third chapter the narrator improves but not enought to allow me to even remember the storyline. The generally flat intonation was a distance second issue to the weird cadence.

Someone at audible should have proofed this before it was allowed release.

I know how this review must sound but it appears I payed for the privlege. Read the book perhaps but for what it's worth don't listen to this edition.